Children of the Stones: Full Circle

 "I think you have an exaggerated sense of your own importance..."

And so it ends... rather suddenly, but entertainingly. I'm not sure I understand what was going on, what with all this exposition about black holes, transmission, ley lines, Hendricks as some kind of sin eater, and the locals turning to stone, perhaps hinting at the origins of stone circles? Then there's Dai being alive again, Matt's theory about a "time trap" and Hendricks appearing anew at the end.

And Adam and Matt- a teenager- are exhibiting genius level of behaviour here in their father-and-son clever clogs display. They have throughout, but this episode really pushes it, with both of them being experts on all things from black holes to atomic clocks. But there's heart, too, as we feel the emotions with Adam and Margaret parting.

I'm not sure this episode quite sticks the landing- it's atmospheric, but bewilderingly confusing. Did they write themselves into a corner? Still, overall the series is all I was expecting from this well-known classic programme from the year of my birth. It's very, very 1970s in so many fascinating ways.

Children of the Stones: Squaring the Circle

 "There's no way out until the stones release us..."

This penultimate episode is the most gripping yet, from start to finish. Margaret and Sandra are now "happy", and the tension is superb as Adam and Matt gradually realise this. They're now alone in an increasingly claustrophobic village. It feels as though there's nothing they can do.

The attempt to leave the village fails, of course, in beautifully surreal scenes which are a triumph of trippy and imaginative direction. And they wake in Hendricks' house, as "guests", seemingly with no escape as villagers surround the house. 

Iain Cuthbertson is magnificent here, both urbane and sinister as, at last, he verbally spars with our father and son protagonists in his avuncular way. Yet, once again, it's the mood that lingers in the mind. I begin to wonder whether what's going on will be given some kind of explanation, or whether it may in fact be better if it isn't.

I have no idea how this can possibly end. But it truly is one of the greats of children's television.

Children of the Stones- Charmed Circle

 "Perceptive and formidable..."

An extraordinary gripping episode, this, with a pleasingly earned bit of exposition and the sinister Mr. Hendricks, portrayed to perfection by the splendid Iain Cuthbertson, moving very much to the foreground with his presence a constant. We get to see more of his extraordinary home at the centre of the circle... and it's a nice surprise to see good old John Woodnutt as his butler. 

Hendricks' creepy gaslighting about Dai's death is hugely effective, compounded by the disappearance of the body. But our intrepid foursome make some fascinating discoveries- the people in the painting seem to exactly number the population of the village. Discrepancies between painting and chart suggest one of the stones may move. And the amulet (with a jolt of static electricity) puts young Matthew in a bit of a trance, following which things get delightfully weird.

Which is handy because, with the four of them being the only villagers who are not "happy", Hendricks has only them to convert. And, with Margaret and Sandra invited to dinner, Matt gets to watch their extraordinarily gripping conversion from afar, with white light pouring down as their faces change. The whole setting looks amazing, and the acting really succeeds in building up the tension.

This is good, creepy, atmospheric, old-fashioned plot-driven telly. Every episode just gets better and better. 

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Series 2- The Red Headed League

 "It is quite a three pipe problem..."

Yes, I know; it's been a while, and I stopped abruptly, but now I'm back to blogging the Jeremy Brett series of Sherlock Holmes adaptations. I stopped because of an unfortunate cock-up with Sky Plus, but now I have Britbox. I can now continue the last two episodes of Adventures, folowed by the first series of Return. There may be another pause there untl I'm able to see The Sign of Four, but that's a solid nine episodes for now.

The Red Headed League is one of the more well-known of the Conan Doyle short stories, and certainly one of the ones with which I'm most familiar. It's therefore a rather good episode to reintroduce myself to this wonderful series, drowning in redolent Victoriana, as I again experience the wonders of Jeremy Brett's performance and the nicely adapted story, complete with dialogue reflecting the actual speech patterns of Conan Doyle's characters. There's a superb case here, with Richard Wilson and Tim McInnerny standing out, while John Woodnutt is splendid as his usual vaguely arrogant authority figure. Roger Hammond also tands out in a bravely comical portrayal of Jabez Wilson.

It's an interesting choice, though, in this penultimate episode of the series, to have the whole thing be masyerminded by Moriarty, to give Brett a nice little speevh introducing him as formidable foe, and to give the superb Eric Porter a sublime cameo at the end.

Roll on The Final Problem. This programme is superb. I've missed it.

Doctor Who: The Keeper of Traken

Part One

“It surely does not become of us to mock the Melkur!”

So, Johnny Byrne, another new writer. It’s extraordinary how few of the old hands have been penning the scripts this series. The effect is that things seem very fresh but also a little disorienting. And perhaps also more of an obvious influence from the script editor than usual. But anyway, The Keeper of Traken…

For the first time the Doctor and Adric are alone in the TARDIS and, surprisingly, it works very well indeed. With just Adric the Doctor is suddenly full-on sombre; we’ve seen elements of this tendency more and more over the season but without the influence of Romana and K9 it’s much more to the forefront. The relationship between the Doctor and Adric is also very much a father / son one, which makes the Doctor seem older and fits with the changes in his character. Adric is very accepting of the doctor as a father figure and, surprisingly, the two actors work very well together. Tom is excellent, of course, in portraying this most interesting piece of character development. But I must give credit to Matthew Waterhouse too. Anyway, The Keeper of Traken… 

We have an empire held together just by “people being terribly nice to each other”, something which isn’t developed any further than that. We also have the concept of good and evil apparently being things which objectively exist rather than being subjective judgements, to the extent that “evil beings are drawn to Traken where they calcify into “Melkurs”. All of which is, frankly, simplistic drivel which has no place in either the scientific world view or the general tone of Doctor Who. I don’t have any problem with Doctor Who being considered a children’s programme (it is), but the simplistic concepts behind this scripts come across as intended not just for a children’s programme but a rather patronising conception of one. All this talk of Traken’s “goodness” and its effect on “evil” Melkurs makes me feel as if I’m being talked down to. And good children’s television never makes me feel that way, even at 32.

The dialogue comes across as the worst kind of cod-Shakespeare, too. And our introduction to the characters via flashback as the Keeper introduces them is awkward and stagey, too, the characters’ dialogue being too obviously intended as exposition.

Still, nice line from the Doctor as the end as he and Adric, rather drearily, are about to be accused of some crime: “I wonder what we’ve done this time?”

Part Two

“Obey without question!”

Pretty much a second episode of drivel, really, and at the halfway point the story is on course for a 1/5. Still, Anthony Ainley is good as Tremas, it’s good to see Margot Van der Burgh (it’s been a long time!) and John Woodnutt again, albeit both wasted, and Kassia’s eyes when hypnotised evoke pleasant memories of Image of the Fendahl. I wonder who this baddie could be, hypnotising Kassia like that?

I must admit it all looks good, too, as has everything this season.

Part Three

“What can’t be cured must be endured.”

Fortunately from this point things begin to pick up, as the focus shifts from the awful concepts of the story, the dull guest characters and the dullness of the Doctor and Adric being suspected of nefariousness and locked in a cell. I like the way everyone has to bribe Proctor Neman to get him to do anything (at least there’s one snake in this paradise, then!). 

Nyssa is the other guest character of interest here, likeable, knows a lot of science-y things, brave and determined, but even she is far from a well-rounded character, as those traits pretty much describe her whole personality.

The focus on the action is bringing some entertainment into the story, though, and the cliffhanger’s great.

Part Four

“So, a new body. At last!”

One slight problem here- the two remaining consuls seem to accept the Melkur as the new Keeper, but surely by definition they’d see him as evil? Just because the pace is picking up doesn’t mean things have started making sense!

Interesting to see a mention of the second law of thermodynamics, and our good friend entropy. It’s almost as though something were being foreshadowed. Bizarre how this story manages to develop the overarching themes of the season with a genuine brilliance which is entirely lacking in the ideas behind the story itself.

I was much amused by the Doctor’s banging of heads with Neman and his two mates- shades of The Highlanders there. And also by our first sight of Nyssa building some kind of device in the TARDIS- quite possibly not the last time we’ll see something like this! But Nyssa, along with Adric, pretty much gets to save the day. How puzzling that she doesn’t join the TARDIS crew at the end…

Geoffrey Beevers is magnificent as the Master, with almost the perfect voice for villainy, surpassing Peter Pratt and probably second only to Gabriel Woolf. Shame about his make-up though, so much less graphic than in The Deadly Assassin! It’s great to see the Master again, although this story doesn’t really give us a great confrontation scene between him and the Doctor- something to be rectified shortly, no doubt. The Doctor’s also strangely slow to realise who he is.

The Master’s still after a new body, though, and just when the story seems to be over he goes and gets himself one. Poor Tremas…

Well, after the poorest start in some considerable time this manages to climb its way up to a 2/5 by competent action plotting, some development of the overarching season theme and some competent stuff with the Master. The whole concept of Traken is still rotten, though.

I’ll try and do Logopolis tomorrow. And judging by my notes it’ll probably break my record for word count for a four parter by a long way!

Doctor Who: Terror of the Zygons

Part One

“My family have served this country for seven centuries, but that seems not to count these days, does it?”

This was my first ever BBC video and the first ever “old” story I ever saw. I’ve seen this many, many times but never before in episodic format. And it’s good to see the short clip from Disney Time as well as the BBC globe.

This is great from the beginning, with an oil rig being destroyed to the sound of some fantastic incidental music. It’s great to see the Brig (in a kilt!) and Benton again. I can’t help thinking though- was there really enough time to install a space-time telegraph at the end of Robot?

The Doctor’s attitude is interesting- in this incarnation he feels much less attached to UNIT and 20^th century Earth, and has a bit of a go at the Brigadier for recalling him only to change his mind suddenly when reminded of the loss of life. This Doctor is fascinating- more individualistic and Bohemian than his predecessor, but with the same underlying principles. And there’s something very charismatic about his changes of mood. I love the oil speech.

It’s great to see Angus Lennie, of off of of The Great Escape, as the very Hammeresque pub landlord. And this is just so well directed by Douglas Camfield- the moor sets a real mood, and our first shot of the Zygons hands and eyes is great. Suddenly we have a story of tightly edited scenes and a very nice moment where the injured Harry cries “No… no…” as the Zygon advances on him, and we then cut to the Doctor on the phone calmly saying “No… no…”. This is top stuff.

Part Two

“Asleep? Impossible, I was on duty!"

The whole organic look of the Zygon ship is great- original and a triumph of both design and lighting. And there’s more great directing on show as we dissolve between the faces of Sarah and the Doctor as he hypnotises her to avoid asphyxiation. This is so well directed it almost distracts from the fact the Doctor seems to have acquired yet another superpower, one he’s never bothered to use before in similar circumstances for some reason.

We get lots of atmosphere with the fog and the great music, a bit of actual journalisting from Sarah, and generally enough excellence on show that I’ve decided to completely ignore the fact that the Skarasen looks crap.

Part Three

“Aliens! With wireless sets?”

The Doctor is saved by Harry! Yay! This man is great. And Sarah shows how great she is, too, in discovering the Duke’s secret passage to the Zygon ship, swiftly rescuing Harry and returning in time for tea. Unlike the Doctor, who attempts the same thing and promptly gets captured.

I love the Doctor’s line “Sounds like the Brigadier” as UNIT merrily lob bombs into the loch. It’s sad that this is the last ever “regular” UNIT story, but at least they’re going out on a high.

Part Four

“Was that bang big enough for you, Brigadier?”

There’s some great modelwork on show with the Zygon ship, especially the landing scene. And it’s good to get a reason for the fact that, as the Doctor points out, there are only about six Zygons. It seems their home planet was “destroyed in a recent catastrophe” and that Broton wants to terraform the Earth for the benefit of other Zygons who are to arrive in “many centuries”.

The prime minister is apparently a woman (Thatcher was already Tory leader at the time) so it seems Jeremy must have lost an election. 

The Doctor nearly loses his life by underestimating the power of organic crystallography- a common error, to be fair. I’ve almost lost count of the number of times I’ve done the same thing myself. Still, he manages eventually to escape, gleefully vandalise the Zygon ship, and release all the Zygons’ prisoners, although the bit with him operating the Zygons’, er, interestingly shaped controls certainly caused me to raise an eyebrow.

Fittingly for his last regular story, the Brig at last gets to shoot an alien baddie dead with an ordinary bullet. We finish with the Doctor claiming he’ll be able to make the short hop to London in the TARDIS an d offering a lift to both Sarah and Harry. Of course, it’s understood by everyone that the TARDIS will be doing nothing of the sort. Harry stays behind in an understated leaving scene, a little disappointing but probably in keeping with the stiff-upper-lip nature of the man, but Sarah, being fab, signs up for some further adventures in time and space.

Brilliant. Not only an easy 5/5, but the third best so far. Great story, great performances, awesomely well directed. This is Doctor Who at its very finest.

Doctor Who: Frontier in Space

Part One

“Well, I’m never going in that thing again.”

 I’d always assumed I’d seen this story before at some point in the 90s, but watching this first episode I don’t think I have. So I genuinely don’t know what to expect.

 We start with some superb modelwork, and what I think is the first mention of hyperspace in Doctor Who. This looks set to be our first real space opera since The Space Pirates. And while we’ve seen glimpses of Earth’s future recently with Colony in Space and The Mutants, this is the first indication we get that there’s supposed to be a coherent future history, as the Doctor explain to Jo that these are the early days to the Earth Empire seen in The Mutants.

 This is good; the Draconians look great, the situation is intriguing, and we even get to see a Drashig again. I like the newscast, a tried and tested Hulkean method of doing a bit of world-building.

 Ogrons! Although of course the Doctor is quick to pooh pooh any idea that this necessarily means the Daleks are behind it all.


Part Two

“Jo! Will you stop pacing up and down like a perishing panda!”

 This seems to be a very long reprise. It’s good stuff though, further establishing the premise of the story and making wider hints about the nature of 26^th century Earth, which seems to be some kind of Putin-style “managed democracy”. We also get to see a lot of the South Bank of the Thames as it was then!

 The presentation of the Draconians is very well handled- they’re clearly based on Japanese samurai as far as their props and costumes are concerned, and are clearly allegories for Eastern civilisations as seen through western eyes. There’s a particularly good line from the Draconian prince, of humans: “They’re an inscrutable species.”, nicely undercutting a common stereotype.

 Of course, there’s the usual cold war allegory going on as well. Malcolm Hulke did write it, after all.


 Part Three

“Well, I mean, criticise the government and you’re for it, aren’t you?”

 I like the scene with the Doctor and the mind probe, very Doctorish, and this is still very good, but I’m starting to wish the story would start to move on from all these cells and interrogations. There are certainly lots of escapes and recaptures.

The Doctor is sent to a lunar penal colony, without a trial, and it soon becomes clear that it’s a dumping ground for political prisoners, a nicely dystopian touch. And then, of course, there’s the Master. In a position of authority, naturally.

 It’s a relief when the Professor actually believes the Doctor’s story after three episodes of no one doing so. And it’s good to see the story move on. All the same though, the fact that the Doctor and Jo seem to spend all their time in cells, and the slow pace of the story, are surprisingly unproblematic for me, mainly because Hulke’s script has so much good character stuff for the Doctor and Jo.

 Oh, and doesn’t the Doctor’s hair look bushy in his prison uniform?


 Part Four

“I seem to be quite the master criminal, don’t I?”

 Poor Professor- condemned to a year in solitary and then the story forgets about him!




 Firstly there’s a nice scene between the Doctor and the Master in which the Master, played even more brilliantly than usual by Roger Delgado, remarks on the reversal of roles since the Doctor visited him in his cell in The Sea Devils. We also get hints of the Master’s mysterious employers and a sense of the story broadening in scope.


But fundamentally this episode is about the development of Jo, and her relationship with the Doctor. We start with the Doctor briefly summarising the plot of The War Games to Jo, and then we move on to his recent exile, where he met Jo, “and that alone made the exile worthwhile.” By the standards of early ‘70s Who this is practically Bad Wolf Bay territory. I don’t think they’re lovers at any point, but there’s a relationship developing between them. They clearly care a lot about each other, and they’ve both changed as people by being together in a very New Series sort of way. The Doctor has softened notably since meeting Jo, while Jo has developed into a stronger and more confident person. But at the same time, it’s implied that Jo won’t be around for much longer- for the second time this story she tells the Doctor “I’m never going back in that TARDIS with you again.”

Of course, this is all hilariously undercut by a firing-on-all-cylinders Delgado; “In reminiscent mood are you, Doctor? Poor Miss Grant, you have my deepest sympathy.” And just to make things perfect, he’s reading War of the Worlds!

The escape scene between the Doctor and Jo is brilliant, with Jo’s magnificent monologue fully showing the greatness both of Katy Manning and the character, at least when written as well as this. And, of course, the monologue works as a commentary on her own character, how far she’s come since Terror of the Autons, and hints at how she’s very soon not going to need the Doctor any more. It’s an excellent piece of writing.


Part Five

“An emperor who does not rule deposes himself.”

I’m watching this on the Australian version of the video release that I got from eBay a few years ago, and bizarrely it has the Delaware theme for this episode. I’m glad I’ll only be hearing it this once- it’s awful! Still, another good episode. I love the scenes with the Doctor and the Master trying to convince the Draconian Emperor, archly played by John Woodnutt. Interesting that it should be the Draconians, not the humans, who finally believe the Doctor.

The issue of the position of women in Draconian society is admirably summed up with great eloquence and gravitas: “I think it’s about time that Women’s Lib was brought to Draconia.” Surely one of the great dialogue triumphs of the age.

There are problems here: the Doctor is captured again by Earth police; the Ogron masks are a bit poor; and the Draconian prince manages to convince General Wotsisname rather too easily. But there’s also greatness. Delgado is fantastic. And it’s great, and hugely symbolic, to see that Jo can now resist the Master’s hypnotism.


Part Six

“No doubt you’re a qualified space engineer too, Doctor.”

“Naturally.”

More development for Jo, as she overcomes her fears of several monsters for which the costumes are readily available, and then cheerfully sets about escaping from yet another cell. Unfortunately, the Master may not be able to control her but he’s an, er, master of the art of manipulation.

It’s a satisfying ending, with the Daleks revealed as the Master’s mysterious employers, and turns out to be an appropriate ending for Delgado, whose impression of the Daleks (“stupid tin boxes”) is hilarious. The very final scene is very odd though- it’s not clear whether it’s a cliffhanger or not. And the Doctor seems to be requesting the help of the Time Lords a lot these days.

Overall, great- a brilliant script with great development of the regulars, the Draconians are fantastic, and Delgado bows out at the very top of his game. He’ll be missed. It loses a point for too much time spent in cells, but this isn’t enough to stop this story being very good indeed. 4/5.

Doctor Who: Spearhead From Space

Part One


"Little blue men with three heads?"

The theme tune seems to be the same, but the titles are very different- and very brightly coloured of course!

Meteorites- this is all very Quatermass II, as I'm sure the casual viewer would have noticed at the time! I suspect Nigel Kneale must have done. Still, with all the jobs this story has to do it's no bad thing to hang event around a familiar plot.

Sam Seeley is the first of many poachers we'll be seeing during this era (I've not read the rest of this thread yet- if no one else is keeping a tally then I might!). He's also a very different kind of Holmesian comical anti-establishment individualist to Milo Clancy.

The Doctor's not in this episode much, and our first sight of him is rather unclear. But we still get a connection to the recent past in the shape of the Brigadier. Nicholas Courtney is great as always, but the fakeness of his moustache is rather more noticeable in colour! Caroline John is also fantastic playing a superb character, sharp-tongued at times but instantly likeable.

The Doctor has two hearts then! Interesting that the use of a mirror harks back to The Power of the Daleks. but I suppose it's a rather obvious idea in these circumstances.



Part Two



"An alien who travels through time and space... in a police box?"



I've seen this story many times over the last twenty years (I feel old!) but never before in episodic form, and it's very noticeable here that the dialogue is changed from last episode in the reprise.

I love the whole scene with the Doctor's escape from the hospital, accentuated by some brilliant incidental music. The "Doctors only" door is inspired! It's quite obvious that the Doctor has a very naval looking tattoo, mind.

The story's very well directed by Derek Martinus too- the POB shot of the crashing Land Rover is particularly well done. In fact, this story hasn't put a foot wrong so far. Holmes's script, the acting from all concerned, even the fact it's all on film- this feels very like a feature film.

The Doctor's bluffing his way into UNIT HQ is great, as well as practically all his dialogue with the Brigadier and Liz: "How do I know that you're not an impostor?" "Ah, but you don't. You don't. Only I know that." It's great how he immediately takes charge of the situation here.


Part Three


"Just... testing..."



A pivotal moment here as the Doctor, after a bit of trickery, tries to leave in the TARDIS- and it won't work. There's some great comic acting from Pertwee, here and elsewhere.

The scene where Meg Seeley is attacked by an Auton is very well done- the bit where the dog suddenly stops barking is creepily effective. The scene with Channing looking through the distorted glass at the Brigadier is also creepily effective.



Part Four



"My dear chap, I don't want money. I've got no use for the stuff."



The iconic scenes of the Autons from the shop windows are great, although we ever actually see the glass breaking! It's strange in these scenes to be seeing a 60s London bus stop of a kind I've come to associate with Monty Python.

The one thing in this story which disappoints in any way is the realisation of the Nestene's physical form. Plus the gurning- oh dear!

The story ends satisfactorily and at the end the new format is firmly established. I'm looking forward to it- I immediately like this new Doctor and companion team.



Overall, damn near perfection in script, acting (from all concerns, direction and overall look. An easy 5/5.